I generally have one pump failure a year. I keep a spare pump on hand. So far I have had no problems with the float switches. That said, the pumps are on a 1936 wooden boat. The primary pumps run about 4-5 times a day for about 10 seconds each time. The third, backup, pump only runs during tests. It is located several inches higher than the primaries and is there as a pump of last resort. It is a 4,000 gph pump. The primaries are 1,100 gph pumps.